Friday, August 22, 2014

Of the Ordering of the World

But the world too evolved of its own accord: the winds, driven by the Sisters, the rain, the movement of the earth as fire boiled beneath the surface, driving gases and flames into the rock, pushed all things into new shapes. The All Father saw in this a structure and he understood its order and though the lands changed from his vision, still he was pleased, for even as he lay his tools to work he understood what must come to pass, for life begets life.

Thorax took council with Narrheit and both wondered at the ordering of the world, though in truth Narrheit cared nothing for it one way or the other, seeking only to alter what was made or destroy it without purpose or design. But Thorax learned in his councils that the Arc of Time settled in the pools upon the edge of Creation and that it breached the Wall of Worlds. So Thorax followed the Arc to its ending and found there the Eternal Pools. He took note of it and never forgot.

The Arc of Time flowed on, its many streams winding into the pools of its ending upon the edge of Creation, moving ever toward the Gonfod. And so the ages passed. Erde grew lonely in his world. The Sisters paid him little heed in their race through the heavens, and the gods and other figments hid themselves for fear of being banished to the Void. So he sat upon the highest peak in the world, what the dwarves and men call, Mount Thangondrim, the “throne of the sky,” and pondered this new dilemma. His beard and hair grew to great lengths, until he knew at last that he was older than he had been, and that his moods were less hasty. This knowledge gave him insight into the shaping of Life.